Was the book Madeleine written for cathartic or financial reasons?

[Sherlock Holmes]

Oh I was thinking of Scheherazade, The thousand nights and One" !

Very nice!

(you were way ahead of me as usual ....)

[icabodcrane]

I mean that if the McCanns are as well connected and powerful as they are sometimes portrayed as being, with wealthy sponsors and friends in high places - not to mention the British tax payer, who seems to have been very magnanimous of late - then there would be different ways of securing funds.

Going by the logic that the book was mainly for financial reasons and that funds must be drying up, do you think we should be expecting a sequel?

You believe,  then,  that the McCanns are  mystically  'well connected and powerful'  ....  and can get all the money they need to pay the enormous legal fees they are relentlessly running up by relying on weathy sponspors and  'friends in high places'  ? 

I always thpought that was a myth, myself 

That's why I believe the book was written out of financial necessity

As to whether there will be a 'sequel'   I do hope not  ...  there comes a point when the child that disappeared at the tender age of three should be better honoured

[Sherlock Holmes]

You believe,  then,  that the McCanns are  mystically  'well connected and powerful'  ....  and can get all the money they need to pay the enormous legal fees they are relentlessly running up by relying on weathy sponspors and  'friends in high places'  ? 

I always thpought that was a myth, myself 

That's why I believe the book was written out of financial necessity

As to whether there will be a 'sequel'   I do hope not  ...  there comes a point when the child that disappeared at the tender age of three should be better honoured

Actually I don't believe that they are 'mystically' well-connected and powerful. On the contrary; they are two provincial doctors from ordinary families whose connections, insofar as they can be called that, were only made in the context of this tragedy.

Some people like to portray the McCanns as all powerful people in whose presence international leaders tremble, and that is certainly a falsehood with overtones of conspiracy theory.

[icabodcrane]

Actually I don't believe that they are 'mystically' well-connected and powerful. On the contrary; they are two provincial doctors from ordinary families whose connections, insofar as they can be called that, were only made in the context of this tragedy.

Some people like to portray the McCanns as all powerful people in whose presence international leaders tremble, and that is certainly a falsehood with overtones of conspiracy theory.

Well then we agree

Now,  how do you propose these two provincial doctors from ordinary families could have raised the money necessary  to pay the astronomical legal fees they have incurred  without  'the book'  ?

[Silkywhiskers]

They were well connected.

Gordon Brown stepped in and supplied them with Clarence.

They were supplied with private jets by Branson, who wouldn't miss a few million if he felt he was helping find a little lost girl.

This initial support, which is understandable from a human level, has fallen away.

The result of this is Operation Grange.

They are going to solve this.  They have more or less told us that they already have ("we have names"), it's now just paperwork and cooperation and of course, the arrest itself.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Well then we agree

Now,  how do you propose these two provincial doctors from ordinary families could have raised the money necessary  to pay the astronomical legal fees they have incurred  without  'the book'  ?

I think it is hard to say exactly what might have paid for what.

Funds came from several sources of which the book was certainly an important one,  and combined they paid the legal fees - and many other things besides.

There is no doubt that regardless of how the accounting was done, this level of activity cannot be sustained much longer. Once the British taxpayer is out of the equation and SY have reached the end of the line, it will be very hard for the McCanns to persuade anyone else, however wealthy, to donate to a bottomless pit.

[icabodcrane]

I think it is hard to say exactly what might have paid for what.

Funds came from several sources of which the book was certainly an important one,  and combined they paid the legal fees - and many other things besides.

There is no doubt that regardless of how the accounting was done, this level of activity cannot be sustained much longer. Once the British taxpayer is out of the equation and SY have reached the end of the line, it will be very hard for the McCanns to persuade anyone else, however wealthy, to donate to a bottomless pit.

No, no  ...  no obsfucation now Sherlock 

You said that   'the book'  was was written, primarily,   for  Kate McCann's personal cartharsis,  whilst I said it was written,  primarily,  for financial reasons  (  to pay the increasingly overwhelming legal fees  ) 

One of us must be wrong

You must provide reasoning  for your assertion that the  'primary reason'  for writing the book was  not  financial  ...  and in order to do that you must offer an alternative source of funding that the McCanns could rely on  to pay their ever growing legal fees   (  thereby making  'the book' a cathartic,  stand-alone,   personal  homage by Kate McCann to her lost child  )

Can you do that  ? 

[Sherlock Holmes]

No, no  ...  no obsfucation now Sherlock 

You said that   'the book'  was was written, primarily,   for  Kate McCann's personal cartharsis,  whilst I said it was written,  primarily,  for financial reasons  (  to pay the increasingly overwhelming legal fees  ) 

One of us must be wrong

You must provide reasoning  for your assertion that the  'primary reason'  for writing the book was  not  financial  ...  and in order to do that you must offer an alternative source of funding that the McCanns could rely on  to pay their ever growing legal fees   (  thereby making  'the book' a cathartic,  stand-alone,   personal  homage by Kate McCann to her lost child  )

Can you do that  ?

A few things, icabod.

First of all, I don't think it's an either / or - cathartic vs financial. The McCanns have many sources of funding and we don't know exactly which of those went into financing court costs. So to pitch that against the idea that Kate wrote the book for cathartic reasons seems to be jumping the gun a bit.

But I appreciate what you are saying at a more general level. Yes, money was obviously needed, and the book must have helped.

I was really speaking of the literary style and personal content - of which Redblossom gives us a lovely example above - which is redolent of Kate's personal feelings and views. The book is not, I would say, an homage to Madeleine at all.

That was the initial distinction that I was making -  the distinction between the book's title, and its content, which relates more to its author than its subject.

[icabodcrane]

A few things, icabod.

First of all, I don't think it's an either / or - cathartic vs financial. The McCanns have many sources of funding and we don't know exactly which of those went into financing court costs. So to pitch that against the idea that Kate wrote the book for cathartic reasons seems to be jumping the gun a bit.

But I appreciate what you are saying at a more general level. Yes, money was obviously needed, and the book must have helped.

I was really speaking of the literary style and personal content - of which Redblossom gives us a lovely example above - which is redolent of Kate's personal feelings and views. The book is not, I would say, an homage to Madeleine at all.

That was the initial distinction that I was making -  the distinction between the book's title, and its content, which relates more to its author than its subject.

It's late,  and I'm not really up to a discourse on the 'loveliness'  of Kate McCann's book

The subject you and I have been debating is the  primary    reason for the book having been written in the first place 

You said it was  'primarily'  written by  Kate McCann  for herself  ...  a necessary personal catharsis

I said it was   'primarily'  written for financial reasons  ...  to pay the ever growing legal fees that could not have been met   without  the book having been written

I guess neither of us can definatively   be proven right,  but let us,  at least,  agree that there is no blurring of the lines where the question of     'primary'  motivation is concerned 

[John]

I always understood that the book was written to fund the search but the cathartic suggestion has much value. 

[slartibartfast]

They were well connected.

Gordon Brown stepped in and supplied them with Clarence.

They were supplied with private jets by Branson, who wouldn't miss a few million if he felt he was helping find a little lost girl.

This initial support, which is understandable from a human level, has fallen away.

The result of this is Operation Grange.

They are going to solve this.  They have more or less told us that they already have ("we have names"), it's now just paperwork and cooperation and of course, the arrest itself.

As mentioned, only well connected from an abduction pov.

[Estuarine]

You believe,  then,  that the McCanns are  mystically  'well connected and powerful'  ....  and can get all the money they need to pay the enormous legal fees they are relentlessly running up by relying on weathy sponspors and  'friends in high places'  ? 

I always thpought that was a myth, myself 

That's why I believe the book was written out of financial necessity

As to whether there will be a 'sequel'   I do hope not  ...  there comes a point when the child that disappeared at the tender age of three should be better honoured

I agree with you Icabod on the highlighted points. The interesting thing for me is why Esther McVey dropped it like a hot brick after a few weeks. Apart from being drop dead gorgeous she is nobody's fool.
I am also interested in what the half million restricted funds are in the company accounts. "Restricted funds" is normally an accounting term for charities where the donor has specified how they should be spent. In this instance one can only speculate. Martin Roberts described Kate's book as "a defence document looking for a trial". I agree wholeheartedly with your last point too.

[Lace]

I believe the book was written for carthartic and financial reasons,   but mainly cathartic.

Kate has said that she needed to put their side of story out there.    How frustrating it must have been with Amaral's book  in the public domain with what he believed had happened to Madeleine.    It must have been devastating  and would bring a feeling of helplessness.

By writing her book,   I believe it would have been good for Kate to get all her feelings out on paper,  to tell her story.

Kate had kept a record of what happened right from the beginning in her diary,   she wanted the details in order for Madeleine to know what happened and that they had been trying to find her from the start.

Of course Kate McCann is no writer in that sense,   she obviously had help and I can imagine when asked of the way she was feeling when in the depth of knowledge that her daughter had been snatched by who knows who,   all the feelings of desperation would come out.     Also how everything had affected her relationship with Gerry.    Everything came out as it was,   she was very honest.

I believe this book was written firstly to get the truth out,    secondly because it would help Kate to get it all out  and thirdly it helped to fill the fund.

[slartibartfast]

I believe the book was written for carthartic and financial reasons,   but mainly cathartic.

Kate has said that she needed to put their side of story out there.    How frustrating it must have been with Amaral's book  in the public domain with what he believed had happened to Madeleine.    It must have been devastating  and would bring a feeling of helplessness.

By writing her book,   I believe it would have been good for Kate to get all her feelings out on paper,  to tell her story.

Kate had kept a record of what happened right from the beginning in her diary,   she wanted the details in order for Madeleine to know what happened and that they had been trying to find her from the start.

Of course Kate McCann is no writer in that sense,   she obviously had help and I can imagine when asked of the way she was feeling when in the depth of knowledge that her daughter had been snatched by who knows who,   all the feelings of desperation would come out.     Also how everything had affected her relationship with Gerry.    Everything came out as it was,   she was very honest.

I believe this book was written firstly to get the truth out,    secondly because it would help Kate to get it all out  and thirdly it helped to fill the fund.

So the books are Amaral's truth vs. Kate's truth.

[Lace]

So the books are Amaral's truth vs. Kate's truth.

Did I say that I thought Amaral's book was the truth?